Introduction

Never discount consultants or SEO agencies that do not appear in the top searches. Take into account that best companies no longer require as much visibility because they can quickly get new clients through happy clients referrals and recommendations.

Never rely entirely on ratings but take time to read reviews instead. See how the company respond to negative feed backs to see how they communicate with negative regards.

When looking for consultant or SEO agency, seek reports samples and try to view actual charts and insight.

It does not matter if you are a working mom or a physical store in search of a good branch, local SEO is an essential ingredient to achieve success. You may think again and realise that SEO is something huge for the size of your business but it is not.

Local SEO Factors

Several reasons and factors exist why any business regardless of its size requires local SEO to improve local presence. It is best to understand the benefits so as to make the local search or consultant or agency quicker and to be able to select the right person to get the job done.

Make the business case on the local search

In 2014, Google made the transition on enhancing the capability of a local search. Two research studies were asked to deeply understand the behavior or cross-device search. These companies are Ipsos MediaCT and Purchased. Some compelling traits were unearthed by the studies

– According to the studies, 4 out of 5 consumers rely on the search engine when in search of local information.

– Around 50% of consumers who use their mobile phones to make local searches are already visiting the store in one day. There are also 34% of shoppers who searched local information using their tablet or desktop and resulted in the same result.

– A greater intent to buy were noticed than non-local searches were discovered. It entails 18% of local searches using their mobile phones that resulted in a purchase in one day than non-local searches of 7%.

After 2 years, a report made by Wordstream was made with 72% of consumers who did a local search and resulted to a store visit within 5 miles from their current location. This is a clear indication that even right them, doing local searches definitely lead to positive action. How can that be not of great help to your business?

Voice search and mobile phone usage

Google in 2017 declared that mobile phone already come of age. This is a vital statement related to the developing use of mobile data. In a study made in the same year by Consumer Barometer Study, it was found that the greater half of the online population of 63 countries included in this study, used their mobile devices to browse the web. About 62 out of the 63 countries reported that they use mobile web access more often than accessing it on their desktops.

Aside from the noted increase, Mary Meeker Internet Trends in 2017 also reported that the use of voice search is another way of effortless searches used by more and more users. This is something that lends itself the use of local SEO. There are 63% of users who made use of voice search while driving and doing other things as they can search even without using the hands. They often search for local businesses.

“To adapt to the local norm, search is evolving…”

If you are having second thoughts whether your company needs local SEO or no, you need to consider the fact that search is constantly evolving. Now it has come to a point where more and more consumers are going local search. Are you sure you would like to miss servicing those clients out?

The VP, Marketing for the Americas at Google, Lisa Gevelber says that local search is now fully used by people as it grows quicker than they expect. A post was entitled “Micro Moments Now: Why ‘near me’ intent is a ‘near you’ opportunity”. She explains:

“Back in September 2015, we have seen double growth shared by ‘near me’ or ‘nearby’ searches made in Google in the previous year. Two years later, the behavior has changed. Yes, people still use ‘near me’ in order to locate places near them. Now, they have already changed to dropping location qualifiers such as phrasing ‘near me’, neighborhoods and adding zip codes as well. These users are fully aware that the results that will pop up to the search engines will surely be relevant to their current location. They owe it mostly to their mobile devices. This year, most of the local searches of local places no longer include ‘near me’ qualifier. It already has outgrown similar searches without the qualifier.”

Summary

In terms of the main search results, there is a noticeable competition of prominence of the local search. Google already lowered the local pack size over time from the search result of 7 down to 3. This made it harder to acquire visibility.

Local search is linked to management reputation. This is a trend that not all businesses can afford. In 2017, there is a survey made by BrightLocal about Local Consumer Review. It indicates 97% of consumers read online reviews first when it comes to a local business. There is about 85% of consumers who are known to trust online reviews just like personal recommendations. If your business will ignore the essence of local searches, it can lead to decreased number of potential buyers.